


I Told You I Was Trouble, You Know That I'm No Good

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-08 01:58:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4286277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alison wonders if she should distance herself from Lorenzo for her own good; Lorenzo convinces her she deserves a second chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Told You I Was Trouble, You Know That I'm No Good

It was a relief to be with Lorenzo, someone who had never known her before and didn’t know all of her history. Except that he was partnered with Toby, who Ali knew had never entirely forgiven her for that time when she’d told the entire school that his mother belonged in Radley, only a few weeks before she’d been taken there. And of course he had to know some of her history, at least all that was on record. Which, in a small town like Rosewood, was a lot. Alison had always known about the whispers behind her back, the people who said “That Alison DiLaurentis will come to a bad end one day, you mark my words.” At the time, she used to laugh it off. Recently, she’d started to think that they were right.

Look at what had happened to so many people who had come into contact with her. Ian, found shot with a suicide letter made up entirely of A texts. Jenna, losing her sight because Alison’s prank had gone so badly wrong. Toby, shunned for years, even to some extent by his own family, because he’d been blamed for the crime. Shana, lying dead at the foot of that building in New York, because Alison had asked her for her help in making sure Jenna wasn’t the one after her, and then Alison’s own lack of appreciation of her at the time leading to Shana turning against her. Her own mother, found buried in the Hastings’ garden, and Jason had said that he couldn’t put his hand on his heart and say that he believed Alison was innocent.

The night after her father had told her about Charles trying to drown her in the bathtub, she’d even had a nightmare where she was back in the bathtub again and she’d thought she’d seen the boy from those old photographs coming towards her, but as he’d come closer, she’d looked at him and realised that it was the man in the mask who Spencer had described from the dollhouse standing before her instead. “All your fault,” he’d said as he tried to hold Alison under the water. She’d struggled against him and tried to make a grab for his mask, but had woken up before she could.

Jason had told her the next day that it wasn’t her fault. She’d been less than a year old at the time; there was nothing she could have done differently. Her father had then chimed in to say that Charles’s problems had been apparent before Alison was even born, and no blame could have been attached to her. But Alison knew that while he had been alive, this brother she hadn’t even known existed had harboured such dislike for her that he had once tried to drown her, and chances were that he probably had blamed her for the fact that he was stuck in Radley.

And even with those who were still around, Alison knew that things could never be the same again. Although her relationship with Jason had improved following their discovery that their father had lied to them about the fact that they’d had another sibling, Alison still couldn’t shake the feeling that her brother was never going to trust her. And it was the same with her friends – although on the surface things were okay with them now, Alison didn’t think things could ever go back to the way they had been before. Emily had hardly spent any time with her since they’d all been back, preferring to spend all her time with that Sara Harvey instead. Which Alison couldn’t blame her for – Emily had to have wondered whether Alison had meant it when she’d declared her feelings for her, and probably even more so now that she knew about Alison having kissed Lorenzo. Hanna, Aria – neither of them had really spent a lot of time with her since they’d been back. Alison could understand them wanting to spend more time with their families, and she could also understand why it would take some time for them to trust her properly again, if indeed they ever could. 

She’d done so many things to so many different people. Lucas had once told her during an argument that he’d heard Hermy so many times he was beginning to forget what his name really was, and that time when Emily had tried to get Alison and Paige together Alison could tell that Paige hadn’t entirely forgiven her, and probably never would. Where would have been the harm in Alison keeping out of it and allowing Emily and Paige to get together back in freshman year? Alison had only wanted to continue coming first in Emily’s life, and now look at her, barely even a part of it. And Mona, who Alison had made into Loser Mona so many years ago, she’d lost three months of her life because she’d got herself caught up with A, and she’d sent Alison a card apologising to her over the fact that Alison had ended up in jail.

Lorenzo had to know all of this. He had to know that Alison DiLaurentis was bad news. She’d even told him that herself, when he first mentioned the possibility of her volunteering at that church group and she’d told him that a lot of parents wouldn’t be happy about the idea of her being in charge of their kids. And yet he was still able to accept her. He was able to see past everything he’d heard about the old Alison, he was probably the only person in Rosewood who was ever going to believe that Alison could ever really change. Anyone who’d known her before, they would look at her and see the same old manipulative bitch. Lorenzo looked at Alison, and for some reason, he seemed to be able to see good in her.

As soon as she had kissed him, Alison had wondered if that had been a mistake, whether if she allowed herself to become involved with him, she’d be tainting him somehow by association. She’d tried to walk away from him, reasoning that she was doing the right thing and that Lorenzo was better off without her. But Lorenzo wouldn’t let her.

“I base my opinions on what I see of people, not secondhand gossip about things that happened a long time ago. I see someone who pulled out all the stops to help find her friends, who’s had a lot to deal with in a short space of time, and who seems to have coped with it remarkably well. You’re a good person, Alison, and you deserve a second chance just as much as anyone.”

And in that moment, Alison finally allowed herself to believe it.


End file.
